By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
Senior members of opposition parties on Nottinghamshire County Council will receive more in allowances following an independent review.
However the authority will be saving money overall after changes to the number of ‘official spokespeople’ in the main opposition group.
The Independent Remuneration Panel assessed the council’s allowance structure following the start of the new administration in May.
This is a legal requirement at the start of a new political administration.
Under the changes, the post of deputy leader of the Labour group will receive an increase from £7,755 to £8,454 per year.
The deputy leader and the group business manager of the second minority group will also see their allowances rise from £1,413 to £4,227.
All special responsibility allowances are calculated on a percentage of the £35,211 received by council leader Ben Bradley, whose allowance remains unchanged.
The special allowances of the leader of the opposition, deputy leader of the council, business managers of the two main parties and leader of the smaller opposition group will also remain the same.
Council documents state that changes have been brought in to reflect “parity” with amounts being received by counterparts in the ruling Conservative group.
Councillor Chris Barnfather (Con), who represents Newstead, brought the report before full council on Thursday (July 22).
He said: “The Independent Remuneration Panel takes its role extremely seriously, this is not a rubber-stamp of any recommendations made by the administration.
“We made our own recommendations and representations, particularly in light of special responsibility allowance for the deputy leader of the main opposition party.
“We felt it was wrongly positioned, and the deputy leader of that group has since received a small increase on that allowance.
“We recognised there were some anomalies with the deputy leader and business manager of the second minority group, and made a recommendation to the panel which was accepted.”
However, despite the changes, the council will save money on its overall special responsibility allowance costs.
It comes after the Labour group requested two fewer official spokespeople on key committees, down from eight to six.
This was to reflect its reduced number of councillors following May’s election.
These roles garner £3,877 per councillor and will bring savings of £7,754.
With the changes, the overall spend on allowances for 2021/22 will stand at £698,049, down from £699,477 in the previous year.
Councillor Kate Foale, leader of the Labour group, welcomed the move during the meeting.
